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Food

Part of a nation's history lies in what people eat. Artifacts at the Museum document the history of food in the United States from farm machinery to diet fads.

More than 1,300 pieces of stoneware and earthenware show how Americans have stored, prepared, and served food for centuries. Ovens, cookie cutters, kettles, aprons, and ice-cream-making machines are part of the collections, along with home canning jars and winemaking equipment. More than 1,000 objects recently came to the Museum when author and cooking show host Julia Child donated her entire kitchen, from appliances to cookbooks.

Advertising and business records of several food companies—such as Hills Brothers Coffee, Pepsi Cola, and Campbell's Soup—represent the commercial side of the subject

This clam shell paper box was used to distribute one Holiday Custard Style Pie. It is decorated with Toy Story 2 advertising and McDonald’s® golden arches logo. Woody and Bullseye the Horse, both Toy Story 2 characters, appear on one side of the box, Jessie appears on the reverse side. In 1996, McDonald’s® and Disney signed a 10 year, exclusive partnership agreement where McDonald’s® was able to use Disney characters for Happy Meal® premiums and Disney would receive free promotion of upcoming movies through McDonald’s®. This partnership appeared like a natural fit for the two companies since they had an overlapping market base. From November 26, 1999 through December 23, 1999, McDonald’s® marketed the Toy Story 2 Happy Meal® premiums.

The McDonald’s Corporation is one of the most recognizable hamburger restaurants in the United States. As of 2011, the McDonald’s Corporation and franchisees were operating in 119 countries with 1.9 million employees, making it the 4th largest employer in the world.

In 1940, Richard (Dick) and Maurice (Mac) McDonald opened the first McDonald’s Bar-B-Q drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California. In 1948, the brothers redesigned their menu, centering on the 15 cent hamburger. In 1954, Ray Kroc, a Multimixer (milkshake machine) salesman, became interested in the McDonalds brothers’ high volume restaurant. He worked out a deal with the brothers to be their franchising agent and opened the first franchise location in Illinois the following year. Under Kroc’s direction, the company grew to become the giant we know today.

These items are termed cookbooks though most are pamphlets or booklets containing recipes.. They were produced either by a manufacturer of the ingredients of foods or by the manufacturer of appliances for which certain recipes or ways of cooking were particularly appropriate, so they also advertise the products represented.

2012 addendum (gift of Boldt family) includes recipe books issued by electric utilities in the state of Wisconsin and the city of Madison. Some of them feature the Reddy Kilowatt character.

Cite as

Product Cookbooks Collection, 1874-2007, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

This collection is the result of a year-long study of advertising of Campbell's "Red and White" Soups, supported in part by a grant from the Campbell Soup Company. Thirty-one oral history interviews were conducted by Dr. Barbara Griffith for the project, and a variety of related materials were gathered by the Center for Advertising History staff. The objective of the project was to create a collection that provides documentation, in print and electronic media, of the history and development of advertising for Campbell's Red and White Soups in the decades following World War II.

Summary

Includes oral history interviews; print, radio and television commercials; promotional items, company publications, market research.

Cite as

Campbell Soup Advertising Oral History and Documentation Project, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Used April 27, 2010, on the Smithsonian Photographic Initiative web site, "click! photography changes everything" (http://click.si.edu) to accompany contributor Jeremy Wolfe's (a professor at Harvard School of Medicine who investigates visual attention) story, which reflects on how photography changes what and how much we remember

Cite as

Goya Foods, Inc., Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History